Star Trek: Discovery took to Hall H for the first time at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, and they brought the first trailer for the show’s second season with them.
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Now that the dust from Comic-Con has settled, we’re looking closely at the new trailer to try to piece together the narrative in the show’s premiere episode and perhaps beyond.
Star Trek: Discovery Season Two picks up where the first season left off, with the Discovery coming nose-to-nose with the USS Enterprise, the famous ship captained by James T. Kirk on his five-year mission in Star Trek: The Original Series. Since Star Trek: Discovery takes place a decade prior to the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, the Enterprise is currently under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. Pike was originally played by Jeffrey Hunter in the first pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series, “The Cage.” Marvel’s Inhumans star Anson Mount will take over the role in Star Trek: Discovery.
Serving as Pike’s science officer is Mr. Spock, who was played memorably by the late Leonard Nimoy. Spock’s father, Sarek (James Frain), was aboard the Discovery when it received Captain Pike’s distress call, as was Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), the human who was adopted by Spock’s parents when she was still a child. Spock’s current whereabouts seems to be a question at the heart of Discovery Season Two.
The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the United States, through CraveTV in Canada, and through Netflix in other international markets. Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto.
Star Trek: Discovery returns to CBS All Access in January 2019.
Here’s our breakdown of the Star Trek: Discovery Season Two trailer. You can read ComicBook.com’s full recap of the Comic-Con panel here, or just get the biggest takeaways here.
A Secret in Space and Time
The trailer opens with the first hint at the mystery that seems to be at the center of this second season. Michael Burnham sees what appears to be an alien being. The red coloring of the shot suggests that this being is somehow tied to the mysterious red spots popping up across the galaxy, a mystery that Spock is also somehow tied to.
Burnham’s voiceover alludes to this being, “A message. A secret, made of space and time, visible only to those open to receive it.”
There is so much potential in this one scene. Are we dealing with time travel? More cross-dimensional travels? Is this going to lead to some big twist about how Discovery fits into Star Trek canon?
Captain Pike Takes Command
The first season of Star Trek: Discovery ended with the Discovery receiving a distress call from Captain Pike on the USS Enterprise. Here, Pike finally makes his debut as played by Anson Mount.
Mount isn’t just here for a casual visit though. He’s here to take command of the Discovery under emergency protocols. We’ll get to exactly why he’s doing that, but for now, it seems like the captain’s chair on the Discovery is something of a hot seat.
First, there was Lorca, but he’s gone. Now Pike, but he’s bound to return to the Enterprise. Will the Discovery ever get a permanent captain?
New Starfleet Uniforms
Along with Pike’s debut, we also get the first full look at the redesigned Constitution Class Starfleet Uniforms, taking the classic uniforms from Star Trek: The Original Series and reimagining them to fit alongside those of Star Trek: Discovery.
The prequel Star Trek: Discovery novels have suggested that the difference is uniform is due to Constitution Class vessels being the crown jewel Ships of the Line, and so getting the first batch of newly redesigned uniforms.
The uniforms seen here — command gold worn by Pike, operations red worn by Lt. Nhan, and science blue worn by Lt. Connolly — give the impression of being a kind of bridge between the Discovery-era uniforms and the Original Series-era uniforms, with the coloring of the Original Series uniforms and the shape of Discovery‘s uniforms.
it is also worth noting that certain scenes in the trailer show Pike wearing a Discovery-style uniform, perhaps suggesting he’s staying aboard the Discovery for an extended period of time.
Damaged Enterprise
So why did Captain Pike decide to take command of the Discovery while it was on its way to pick up its new captain, even though he already had a perfectly good Constitution Class starship at his disposal?
Well, it turns out that the Enterprise may not be perfectly good at the moment. It is easy to miss if you’re not looking carefully, but the trailer shows several worker bees — those small, single-pilot ships that were used in the first season of Discovery — hovering around the Enterprise as Discovery takes off.
It seems that the Enterprise sustained some damage and needs some repairs. That explains both the distress call and Pike’s taking over the Discovery. If matters are as urgent as Pike seems to believe, then it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to sit around waiting for the Enterprise to be repaired before going back out on the mission.
The Pulsar
So then how did the Enterprise sustain such damage? We may know the answer based on where the Discovery heads next.
After Pike gives the order, the Discovery jumps into what looks like an asteroid field. Presumably, this is where the mission that the Enterprise was on took the ship. Perhaps the asteroids hit the ship, or the crew just couldn’t navigate the debris. Those waves emanating from a pulsar probably didn’t help.
Whatever the Enterprise was after in that asteroid field must be important if Pike is willing to risk a second starship and even get into one of the worker bees to try to retrieve it.
The USS Hiawatha
The Star Trek: Discovery Season Two Comic-Con trailer may also offer some clues about the USS Hiawatha.
We already know about the Hiawatha‘s involvement in Season Two through the casting of Tig Notaro as Chief Engineer Denise Reno. Reno makes her first appearance in the trailer in conversation with Burnham.
That conversation seems to be taking place on one of the asteroids in the asteroid field. A still photo released by CBS also revealed crates with the Hiawatha‘s name and registry number printed on them.
This seems to suggest that the Hiawatha somehow became stranded in the asteroid field. Was the Enterprise sent to rescue the ship? Is the ship somehow tied to the red mystery? Or is this rescue mission and Spock’s disappearance two narrative threads coalescing into one?
Spock’s Quarters
The Star Trek: Discovery Comic-Con trailer offers a full view of Spock’s quarter aboard the USS Enterprise, which he is noticeably not inhabiting.
However, Star Trek fans may likely recognize the grated wall, Vulcan chimes, lyre, and 3D chess set that Michael Burnham finds while exploring her adoptive brother’s room. She also finds the Starfleet uniform that he left behind.
Burnham also investigates Spock’s computer terminal, where she seems to uncover more details about the mysterious red spots that Spock was investigating. She seems convinced that he’s tied to them in a way that makes it sound like more than just an investigation.
New Alien Faces
Lastly, the Star Trek: Discovery Comic-Con trailer introduces some new alien characters that will be joining the cast in Season Two.
Fans were already introduced to Linus, a member of the newly redesigned Saurian species. We now know that David Benjamin Tomlinson is playing the character, and that he seems to be a little under the weather.
Rachael Ancheril plays Lt. Nhan, the redshirt from the Enterprise. CBS has not stated which alien species, new or classic, she belongs to, but some fans have noted that the device hovering near her mouth is similar to the device used by the Barzan in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Price.” The Barzan needed that device while traveling beyond their homeworld in order to receive gases native to their homeworld that were necessary for their survival.
The Barzan Planetary Republic was not part of the Federation of Planets at the time that “The Price” took place, though a society does not necessarily have to be a member of the Federation for individual members of that society to enter Starfleet. Still, this is just speculation. Nhan may simply be part of another species that also requires special treatment of the air they breathe.
